Saturday, May 26, 2012

A Report from Bob Lyons, TRS Trustee

"Putting Aside the
Constitution" was how one of the Democrat leaders was able to justify what
legislators plan to do next. She may have forgotten that to “uphold and
protect” that very same document was in her oath of office.

…Andrew Bodewes, TRS
legislative liaison, who serves the same role for the Illinois Teachers Retired Association (IRTA), reported to the TRS
Board on the content of the so-far unnumbered bill that will reduce the costs
of the existing pension systems of the State of Illinois. As some of us may
know, Bodewes is considered an expert on pension law and once served in that role
for the House Democratic staff. What he described to us was the bill, as it was
written, [also affected retirees].

Between January 1 of 2013 and June 30, current retired teachers would be required
to make an irrevocable choice between keeping their existing benefit of an
automatic compounded three-percent increase [Cost-of-Living-Adjustment] in
return for giving up their access to
state provided health care vs. keeping the access to TRIP, or whatever will
replace it going forward, but losing the existing COLA and having it replaced
by the current Tier II COLA of three percent or half the rate of the CPI,
whichever is less and, thus, compounding being replace by simple interest.

Simple interest means the number the
percentage is taken from is always the cost of the pension for the year the new
program starts, or the first year for new retirees. [According to] Speaker
Madigan’s interview that has been circulated online, [Madigan believes] that a
required choice is acceptable under contract law. Madigan, Cullerton, and Quinn
are lawyers and constitutional leaders of the state and that would lead one to
assume they understand the Illinois Constitution specifically governs our
pension benefits – apparently not!

Bodewes expected that while the draft
could certainly change in the next few days that some final version of it would
be introduced on Monday,
May 28. He also said legislators understood that having retirees in the
bill made it less likely to pass and more likely to be found unconstitutional.

The Democratic leadership was also being
told that Republicans would vote against the bill if current retirees were in
the bill. The latter point may have more to do with the fact that the bill is written
only by Democrats. The bill does have that portion of the current state
contributions that cover the “normal cost” of the pensions of current employees
being gradually shifted to the local school districts, which has also been
opposed by Republicans.

While a self-imposed guarantee for
state payments was not in the bill, the draft does call for the pensions to be
at full funding in thirty years. Active teachers would have to make the choice
between keeping the existing COLA which would be based on their salary for next
year and losing state health care vs. Tier II COLA based on their ultimate
final salary and continued access to state health care.

This proposed bill certainly could and should be defeated. If all retired and
active teachers call their representative and senator in Springfield, it can be
stopped. Legislators are scheduled to be in session over the weekend in
Springfield, including Memorial Day. If the bill is passed, we can expect the
unions and the IRTA to be part of a suit, [and there will also be a request
for] an immediate injunction to delay the implementation of the bill until the lawsuits
are settled. While the majority of us are covered by Medicare and giving up
access to TRIP, especially when we don’t have any idea what it will be, would
be the easy choice, there are certainly others that [would find] either choice a
great hardship.

Teacher/Poet/Musician

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Persona

A writer must “know and have an ever-present consciousness that this world is a world of fools and rogues… tormented with envy, consumed with vanity; selfish, false, cruel, cursed with illusions… He should free himself of all doctrines, theories, etiquettes, politics…” —Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914?). “The nobility of the writer's occupation lies in resisting oppression, thus in accepting isolation” —Albert Camus (1913-1960). “What are you gonna do” —Bertha Brown (1895-1987).